Slow motion: Shoot at 48fps or 60fps (converting 24p)

Satori

New member
Tried googling this a bunch and couldn't find an answer. I'm shooting some snowboarding that I want to end up in slow motion. I'm using a T3i with magic lantern, so I can use variable frame rate and go down to 48fps or shoot at 60fps (or anything in between, really). Besides the difference in how slow it will be once converted to 24p, is there a difference in quality between the different frame rates? I'm also using a gopro @ 60 fps, so I'd prefer to shoot the T3i at the same frame rate if possible, so I don't end up with two different speeds of slow motion. But I've read that 60 doesn't convert to 24 that well. And which transcoder will give me the smoothest conversion? I'm on a PC and using Vegas Pro. Thanks.
 
Depends on how the files are recorded. Are they recorded at the frame rate you set (48 fps)? Are they shot at 48 fps and recorded at another frame rate, like 24 fps or 60 fps?

If you shoot 60 fps, what you do for slo-mo in Vegas is put the clip on a 24p timeline, disable resample, and then change the playback rate to .400. Then, you will have smooth slo-mo and each frame will be whole.

In theory, you can do the same with 48 fps IF it's recorded AT 48 fps -- then you'd set the playback rate to .5000.

But if the 48 fps is recorded as 24 fps, then you don't need to do anything. You just put it on the 24p timeline.

Don't know where you read the 60 fps doesn't convert well to 24p, but it does. It does great as slo-mo, and if you handle the camera properly while shooting, it converts perfectly fine to full-speed 24p as well. It's 30p which has the problems, though it, too, is fine for mild slo-mo.
 
Most editing programs try to automatically compensate for various fps so it plays at the same amount of time it was shot in but you want to just deal with frames, not time.Change clip fps info in your editing program if possible to 24fps. You want to use each frame of the 60fps or whatever to use as 1 frame in your 24fp final shot. You can always export as stills and reassemble and save as 24fps.
 
That's not how you do it in Vegas, and whether or not an NLE will play it back in real-time depends on how it was recorded.
 
It's 30p which has the problems, though it, too, is fine for mild slo-mo.

David, are the problems you are referring to related to conforming 30p->24p? That I'm aware of. But I'm curious as you seem to be suggesting (and refuting at the same time?) that overcranking 24->30 also presents some issues. Just curious.
 
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